Etymologically
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perluceo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛrˈɫuː.ke.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [perˈluː.t͡ʃe.o][1]

Forms

perlūceō (present infinitive perlūcēre, perfect active perlūxī); second conjugation, no passive, no supine stem[1] It is also spelled pellūceō.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- (“through”) + lūceō (“to shine”).[2][4][1] De Vaan derives lūceō from the root of lūx (“light”), Proto-Italic *louk- and Proto-Indo-European *leuk- (“light”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first: in the Aulularia a man is so thin, all skin and bone, that he shows light through like a Punic lantern, and in the Rudens a house lets in light more than a sieve.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to let light through, be transparent, as Cicero's thin and transparent ether and Pliny the Elder's violet amethysts.[3] It is also to show through a covering or shine out against a dark background, as Livy's uncertain light already showing and Catullus' stream shining down from a mountain top.[2] Figuratively it is to be plain to see, as Seneca's every vice of a royal house shows through.[2] Priscian testifies to the spelling ⟨pellūceō⟩, but the TLL finds it hardly ever transmitted.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a thin man and a leaky house.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of transparent ether.[3][6]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus, of a stream shining out.[2][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of vices showing through.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To let light through, be transparent, pellucid.[2][3][1]
  2. To shine through, be visible through a covering; to shine out.[2][3][1]
  3. (figurative) To be clear, apparent.[2][1]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de